A "PHOTOGRAPHIC" DEVICE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2605, 9 January 1894, Page 3

A "PHOTOGRAPHIC" DEVICE.

A CAUTION TO THE PUBLIC,

Under the above heading Christohurch Truth publishes the following in their leading column, which will be of interest to Mr Irwin, of Rangitata, and others concerned. It is quite evident that Mr Irwiu is not the only man kept in suspense by this honest photographer of 36 years' standing : " Since the month of October last what appears to be a considerable fraud has been carried on in the Canterbury district. So far as we can gather a man who goes by the rame of Von Hartitzsch, and who is generally accompanied by another person who acts as assistant, hai been going around taking alleged photographs of shops, houses, &c, also private photographs. He first commenced operations in Christc lurch, and is now supposed to have Oo * as * ar as tne Geraldine district. It is not I'uown how many persons in this city have"been victimised, but it is said that there are a good awny who wish they had never seen the man. The mod™ operandi is as follows :—After taking an alleged photograph, the victim is requested to pay 'so much' in advance, and, strange though it may seem, over £IOO was m this way collected by the man between Eangitata and Ashburton. Some six weeks have now elapsed since orders were taken iu that district, and the people who subscribed, but never received any pictures, are loud iu complaint. Several of them recently went to the man and demanded their money or their pictures. His reply was that " they we'vo not ready. He had so manv order* on hand that it was impossible to get through, and he had had to send a lot of negatives to Christchurch !to get finished off." These promises have been made so often that one Ashburton man more determined than the ro.lt issued a summon* for the ncovery of his money, Latterly the residents of the district from Ashburton beginning to think that a fraud was being perpetrated, called in the services of the police, and we understand the detectives are now after the alleged German, and are also desirous of finding out if he is the same person for whom a warrant was issued in the North Island upon a charge of perpetrating the veiy sumo kind of dodge."